DragonBall: The Magic Begins

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS NOT BASED ON DRAGONBALL Z
Review: Unlike most peole who watch this movie, I know it is based on the Chinese legend, and not the manga created by Akira Toriyama. Eventually Toriyama chose to make Goku an alien and break away from the legend. That aside this is an interesting movie, but nothing spectacular. If you are a DBZ fan however, you should check it out if you want to know what the series was originally based on.

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS NOT BASED ON DRAGONBALL Z
Review: Unlike most peole who watch this movie, I know it is based on the Chinese legend, and not the manga created by Akira Toriyama. Eventually Toriyama chose to make Goku an alien and break away from the legend. That aside this is an interesting movie, but nothing spectacular. If you are a DBZ fan however, you should check it out if you want to know what the series was originally based on.

Rating:
Summary: eh
Review: Well, I'm a new fan to Dragonball and I like some Hong Kong action films so I thought I'd check this out. It's not that great. Some of the fight scenes are really good and the music is nice, but the film suffers from the sillyness that many HK films do (and not good silly). I guess that's just what foreign audiences like cause many films are like that with overexagerrated emotions and gestures. The dub job is not great but not bad either considering it's much harder to synch English to live-action lip movements. There is some cussing and some sexual references so you probably don't want to let small children watch this. The FX are...well, standard I suppose. The names are completely different than the original DB names. I don't know if that's how it was in the original version of this film in China or not. I'm guessing Monkey Boy is Goku and Seetoe is Bulma. Turtle Man is Master Roshi and I'm not that well versed in DB history to try and match the rest. The villian in this film is named King Horn and I have no idea if he is part of the Japanese DB story. Also, his two henchmen look very non-Asian. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this film unless you really have a hankering to see it for yourself. I'm just glad the DVD version is cheaper that the VHS.

Rating:
Summary: Dragonball : Where's the magic?
Review: When I first heard this live action Dragonball movie was coming out I was more then apprehensive. Now I know why people say you should trust your gut. I don't think anyone but true fans of the show will even buy this, however, I don't think anyone, know matter who you are, will enjoy this. The story is ludicrous. It is basically a summary of the first season of Dragonball Z with some characters missing. In summation, the truest fans of the show will enjoy this for the comedy, but the magic of watching a small goateed man with a shell on his back try to jump on a flying cloud doesn't last that long. Look somewhere else.